NEWTON — The Marshalltown girls’ basketball team went banged up into Newton and suffered defeat at the hands of the host Cardinals, falling 41-15 on Thursday night.
In sustaining its first loss of the season, Marshalltown (2-1) was forced into 28 turnovers. Newton (3-0) remained unbeaten by jumping out to a 14-4 lead after one quarter and 24-6 at the half.
“We ended with 28 turnovers, yet almost none of them came against the press,” said MHS head coach Brian Murphy. “The combination of few subs and the press wore us down, but I didn’t think we ever responded offensively the way we have in the previous two games.
“We were only down 14-4 going into the second quarter, but our body language looked more like we were down 20 and it showed in the boxscore.”
The Bobcats played without second-leading scorer Sydney Kapayou due to illness, and leading scorer Kinsley Bowie was slowed by an ankle injury sustained two nights earlier.
Sophomore center Frankie Long led MHS with seven points, seven rebounds and three blocked shots, but no other Bobcat got more than a bucket. Jorja Janssen, Ellie Hughes and Morgan Hilderbrand tallied two points apiece. Millie Heitmann had four rebounds and two blocks, while Niah Lott had three steals off the bench in her first varsity action.
Payton Carkhuff had a game-high nine points to pace Newton, which claimed the sixth-straight win in the series. The Cardinals have won 9-of-10 against the Bobcats.
“We came in shorthanded and never played with the same energy that we’ve played with all season,” said Murphy. “Overall I thought the first five minutes of the game wound up being far too definitive to the final outcome than it should have been.
“As a coach, you want to see your team step up in adverse circumstances, but we waited too long to do that collectively. This was the first time I saw us revert back to tendencies from last year, which we have to fight harder to allow.”
The Bobcats are back out on the road tonight with a game at Des Moines East.
Newton 41, Marshalltown 15
MARSHALLTOWN (2-1) — Kinsley Bowie 0 1-2 1, Millie Heitmann 0 0-0 0, Jorja Janssen 1 0-0 2, Ellie Hughes 1 0-2 2, Frankie Long 3 1-2 7, Niah Lott 0 1-2 1, Morgan Hilderbrand 1 0-0 2. TOTALS 6 3-8 15.
NEWTON (3-0) — Alex Riney 2 0-2 5, Tori White 3 2-5 8, Hailey Dickerson 2 2-2 6, Payton Carkhuff 4 0-0 9, Alex Garvis 2 1-2 5, Sophia Coady 1 0-0 2, Evie Main 1 0-0 2, Camryn Klein 0 0-0 0, Bella Winther 1 0-0 2, Emerson Ray 0 0-0 0, Addyson Cibula 1 0-0 2, Brooke Garvis 0 0-0 0. TOTALS 17 5-11 41.
MHS 4 2 4 5 — 15
NEWTON 14 10 12 5 — 41
3-Point Goals–Newton 2 (Riney, Carkhuff). Team Fouls–MHS 12, Newton 14. Fouled Out–none.